Safari and Firefox both not working properly

I just did a clean install on leopard, it all went smoothly. then i downloaded firefox.

but when i open either firefox or safari, when i click on a link instead of going thru to the page i clicked on which all browsers normally do, the page downloads as html, the downloads folder starts bouncing in the dock, grrrrrr, and i get a popup that says (name of file i downloaded) is a web application which was downloaded from the internet. are you sure you want safari or (firefox) to open it. then i have to click YES to get the page to open.

i went to my preferences, everything seems to be in order, the box is checked the open "safe" files after downloading box is checked.

is this some kind of permission problem? i can't figure out what to do, and obviously can't use my browsers. i'm totally stuck!!!

That's a strange one. I would completely uninstall both Safari and Firefox.

But before you do, download Safari from Apple and keep it in your downloads folder.

Apple - Safari - Download After the download is completed, remove both Safari and Firefox. Just drag them to the Trash. Now, reinstall Safari. Do not download and install Firefox until you get Safari working right.

Once Safari is working right, download and install Firefox.

Regards.

Not to discount your problem, but was this just one particular URL that was giving you the problem, or is it every URL you visit?